19 June 1971 With five number one singles dotting the decade like bird droppings, Brendan Shine can claim to be Ireland's biggest chart-topping star of the '70s. It may somewhat colour this accolade for you to know that his nearest competitor in this was Red Hurley with four; the showband-dominated '60s Irish charts congealed into … Continue reading Brendan Shine – ‘O’Brien Has No Place To Go’ →

5 June 1971 Anyone who writes 'I'm A Believer' can't be all bad. Therefore, to say that every Neil Diamond song is knuckle-gnawingly dreadful would be incorrect. It's the other 99.9 percent of them that's the problem: his gauche, self-satisfied lyrics that amount to the wrong-headed knowingness of a parish priest telling a class of … Continue reading Neil Diamond – ‘I Am… I Said’ →

10 April 1971 Knocking Marc Bolan briefly off the Irish number one spot: a welder from Cork, an actual metal guru. Some more chopping and changing saw Lynn Anderson's 'Rose Garden' and T. Rex's 'Hot Love' each reclaim the top bunk, before 'When We Were Young' by Pat Lynch and The Airchords vanquished both again … Continue reading Pat Lynch and The Airchords – ‘When We Were Young’ →

3 April 1971 It happened on 24 March 1971, according to biographer Lesley-Ann Jones in her book Ride A White Swan. T. Rex were at the BBC to record 'Hot Love' for that week's Top Of The Pops as the new UK number one. They had performed the track on the show before, but this … Continue reading T. Rex – ‘Hot Love’ →

27 March 1971 Lynn Anderson is not Canadian. This information is for any other '80s kids like me who first encountered her singing 'Rose Garden' as a sample on 'I Beg Your Pardon' by dour Canuck electro act Kon Kan, a sort of New-foundland Order. Their name comes from the regulation that music radio stations … Continue reading Lynn Anderson – ‘Rose Garden’ →

20 March 1971 Surprisingly, Paul McCartney won't have a post-Beatles UK number one single until 'Mull Of Kintyre' in 1977 - and that's his only UK chart-topping single of the entire '70s. It's surprising not only because he was a Beatle and was still having loads of hits, but also because Paul's sentimental, whimsical old-fashioned … Continue reading Paul McCartney – ‘Another Day’ →

30 January 1971 Ireland's first solo Beatle number one is also our first chart-top encounter with copyright controversy. Since then we've had loads of hugely entertaining courtroom action: singer shenanigans with 'Ride On Time' and 'Return To Innocence'; riff-based rifts with 'Ice Ice Baby' and 'I'll Be Missing You'; vibes-based karmic retribution for 'Blurred Lines'. … Continue reading George Harrison – ‘My Sweet Lord’ →